Nature Based Art
I am an artist and designer, living and working in Northumberland. I create nature based art using ink and watercolour, mainly in small concertina sketchbook journals. I provide workshops which mainly focus on how to create nature journal ands provide tuition on drawing techniques, painting and observing nature.
What a stunning piece of artwork produced by one of the students from the North Shields Library
I focus on the individual to ensure that they are not copying my work but developing their own voice and creative style which they can take forward and develop themselves.
I also develop special projects and have wide experience in providing engagement opportunities through my commercial business Differentia.
Possibly the biggest piece of public art is called Figures of Tyne - this is currently under fabrication and due for installation on the new HMRC building in Newcastle this September. For the engagement I ran a year long project with HMRC, Urban Sketchers, City Guides Newcastle, Tyne and Wear Museums, Elders Council and some other groups.
The engagement involved me developing a chapbook project and I show how to capture a story from observation and recreate it using a simple concertina notebook, pen and watercolour.
A typical spread from one of my nature journals.
My own work is personal - creating nature journals from observations - but also adding my own feelings and thoughts - sometimes poetry, lyrics and quotations, both original and found - into my journals. My aim is really just to notice nature and the beauty of the natural world speaks for itself.
So much nature to encounter and unfold.
My journals are continuous and record a journey - usually with my dog, Jess - which when I look back at them offer not only a useful scientific record but also a visual and immersive prompt. When teaching journalling I provide a background, as well as all of the materials needed to create a beautiful little journal and help to tease out the unique voice and style of drawing that is innate in everyone.
An example of the simple “chapbook Journal” I use when teaching Journalling.
Testimonial
On a personal note, I’d like to say that the workshop was very impactful for me. As I try my hand with watercolors and revisit drawing after an absence of many years, I’ve had trouble finding a comfortable format in which to work. The idea of small, scattered images and engaging with drawing/painting as a process of recording is a huge paradigm shift!
It removes the pressure of creating a finished image, all rendered to the highest degree and presented in a rectangular, frame-able format. Very freeing.
